Search

Objective To assess inflammatory back pain (IBP) and neuropathic pain (NP) in patients with axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) and explore their relationships with disease activity and functional status. Design Descriptive, cross-sectional study. Setting and Subjects A convenience sample of 132 patients with axSpA was recruited from a university-affiliated hospital in China. Methods The presence of IBP or NP, pain intensity and quality, pain interference, disease activity, and functional status were assessed. Univariate analyses and binary logistic regressions were used to identify factors related to IBP or NP. Results Fifty patients (37.9%) had IBP, and 22 (16.7%) had NP. Scores of pain intensity and pain interference, disease activity, and functional limitation were significantly higher in patients with IBP or NP than those without either (P  <   0.05). The quality of IBP or NP was mainly presented as sensory descriptors, and patients with IBP had a higher level of "tiring-exhausting" in affective descriptors (P  <   0.05). There was a significant correlation between IBP and disease activity (odds ratio [OR] = 1.813, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.196–2.750). NP was related to functional limitation (OR = 1.544, 95% CI = 1.098–2.171). Conclusions Though pain quality (sensory and affective pain descriptors) show differently in patients with IBP or NP, the axSpA patients with IBP or NP experience more severe pain intensity and pain interference, higher disease activity, and greater functional limitation. The presence of IBP or NP could reflect higher disease activity or greater functional limitation in patients with axSpA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives To study pain locations and patterns in knee osteoarthritis (OA) and determine associations between knee pain patterns and pain characteristics, functional status, and psychological status. Design A cross-sectional study. Setting and Subjects A convenience sample of 203 patients with knee OA was recruited from two university-affiliated hospitals from July 2016 to July 2017. Methods Pain locations were recorded with Photographic Knee Pain Map. Pain characteristics, functional dysfunction, pain catastrophizing, and pain self-efficacy were assessed, and demographic and radiographic data were also collected. Self-reported clinical outcomes across common pain patterns were compared. Results The medial joint line area (72.9%) was the most prevalent pain zone. The common pain patterns were diffuse (34.5%), isolated medial (22.7%), isolated anterior (9.9%), and medial–lateral pain (9.9%). Scores of intermittent pain (mean difference [MD] = 9.669, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.815 to 16.523) and knee-related function in daily living (MD = −10.353, 95% CI= −17.358 to  −3.349) were worse in diffuse pain compared with isolated medial pain. Knee-related symptom scores were higher with isolated medial (MD = 13.146, 95% CI = 6.725 to 19.566), isolated anterior (MD = 15.102, 95% CI = 6.525 to 23.679), and medial–lateral (MD = 15.281, 95% CI = 6.704 to 23.857) pain relative to diffuse pain. Diffuse pain, after adjusting for confounding factors, was associated with more severe knee pain at rest, higher scores of constant and intermittent pain, lower knee-related function scores, higher pain catastrophizing, and lower pain self-efficacy scores (P  <   0.05). Conclusions The most common pattern is diffuse pain, which is associated with worse knee pain intensity at rest, constant and intermittent pain experiences, and worse physical and psychological status, compared with more localized patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]